The Reeling
by Universe and U
Summary: She may have tried to fight it, but Santana was born to do gymnastics. AU.


**AN:** I know, I've fallen off the face of the planet! The end of my junior year kinda got the better of me, and I'm picking up right where I left off on _Even When You're Miles Away. _But, for the moment, enjoy a cute piece of drabble from when Santana was little!

**AN2:** Just to make things make a little more sense, I need to explain something that I'm doing for flashbacks to when Santana was a kid. Being the family that they are, Spanish was everyone's first language. So, through the story, you'll see things that are written in Spanish to give you a full picture of the scene. I translated the sentences and put them in italics outside of the quote for all of you non-native speakers. The Spanish may not be perfect, but I tried.

_As always, Read and Review! _

_-Universe and U_

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><p>"I don't <em>want <em>to do gymnastics, Mama!" A five year old Santana screamed, almost at the top of her lungs. "I don't _want _to learn to cartwheel, I want to play fútbol just like mis primos!" For weeks, Santana's mom had been trying to coax her into a leotard to start gymnastics - classes that had already been paid for in full.

"But why not, mija? Why won't you just _try_ gymnastics?"

"Because it's **girly**, Mommy. It's girly and mis primos will laugh at me!" The little girl threw all forty pounds of herself onto the couch and her arms were crossed over her chest. "I want to play fútbol. We live in Miami, Mamá. Everyone plays fútbol! They play it on the beach, they play it on the field, they play it in the street sometimes… I want to play fútbol con mis primos." With an extra little "hpmh" at the end, the little girl cast an ugly look at her mom before her aunt came in, dancing with her headphones to her Walkman on. "Tía!" Santana called at the top of her lungs, startling Callie. She pulled off the headphones and looked between mother and daughter.

"What, what happened? Were you two making bets on how badly I could embarrass myself or…"

"Calliope, hable con su sobrina. Ella no me escucha y me doy por vencido." _("Calliope, talk to your niece. She doesn't listen and I give up")_ Aría shook her head and left the room with a dismissing wave of her hand. Clearly, mamá was not happy. And when mamá isn't happy, no one in the Torres family is happy.

"Hey, hey, hey, vuelve aquí!" _("get back here!")_ Callie called before Aría could ascend the spiral staircase leading to the second floor. Suddenly, the footsteps stopped and she could hear the stiletto heels coming back in the direction of the living room. "Ahora ven aquí y dime ¿qué diablos está pasando! No se limite a lo tormenta de descuento!"_ ("Now come here and tell me what the hell is going on here! You don't get to just storm off!")_ Santana sat back on the couch, fear-stricken. Though the girl was born to the family speaking Spanish, they stopped when she went to school because she needed to learn English. It was only when things were really bad and someone was mad that they spoke this much Spanish at a time.

"Todo lo que ella quiere hacer es jugar al fútbol con sus primos. Trato de con seguirque haga las cosas más femeninas, cosas que nunca hizo, y ella no va a darle una oportunidad! Ya he terminado." _("All she wants to do is play soccer with her cousins. I tried to get her to do things that are more feminine, things she's never done, and she won't even give it a try! I'm done.")_ With that, Aría _really _walked away, storming out of the entry way and to the driveway, only to get in her car and drive away.

"Mijita, why do you argue with your mamá like that?" Callie asked as she sat on the coffee table, across from the little girl. "I know it's been hard lately, but your mamá's trying to keep things as normal for you as possible. Tell me, what is it she wants you to do? Is she trying to get you to do that pageant again?" The five year old shook her head 'no'. "Is she trying to get you to wear makeup? Because, trust me, she started young with me, too." Another 'no. "Then what is she trying to do?"

"She wants me to do _gymnastics_, Tía." Santana spit out like there was a bad taste in her mouth. "She wants me to put on one of those ugly bathing suit-type things and do cartwheels and dance around like a little girl!"

"But sweetheart, you _are _a little girl. You're my little girl, remember?"

"That doesn't mean I have to act like one!" The little girl got up off of the couch and ran into the living room closet, where she got her soccer ball and a pair of her cousin's old cleats. "Mis primos all play fútbol. I want to play with mis primos!"

"But su primos are boys, mijita ." Callie sighed and crouched in front of her niece. "Why do you want to play fútbol with the boys?"

"Because everyone plays fútbol. Mi abuelitos both played fútbol. Mi primos, mi tios - even you - all play fútbol! I just want to play like everyone else! I don't want to turn cartwheels and dance around. That's for little girls who don't have the guts to play any other sport." Once again, the little girl crossed her arms over her chest.

"How about I make you a deal?"

"What kind of a deal, Tía?"

"If you go to three gymnastics lessons, just to try it out, and you really don't like it, then I'll talk to your mom and I'll take you to sign up for fútbol and get all of your equipment, okay? But if you like it, then you'll be glad that you tried it."

"I don't know…" Santana looked up at the ceiling, something she did a lot when she was thinking something over. "I only have to go to three?"

"You only have to go to three. And if you don't like it, we'll pull you out just as fast as your mamá signed you up." Callie held her pinky out to her niece who, after some hesitation, wrapped her pink around her aunt's. "Remember what I told you about pinky promises, right?"

"If I break it, my pinky's going to fall off!"

A small laugh and Callie nodded. "That's right, mijita. It's going to fall off if you don't keep your promise to me."

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><p>"Tía! Tía!" Santana called, running into the house in her leotard and a pair of sweatpants. "Tía! I'm home from gymnastics!" When Callie emerged from the kitchen into the entry way, she couldn't help but notice the big grin on her niece's little face.<p>

"I can tell someone had a good time," she commented with a laugh as she hugged the little girl. "But before you tell me all about it, this was your third lesson and we all pinky-swore that you didn't have to do more than three if you didn't want to. Do you want to keep doing gymnastics or are we signing you up to play fútbol, mijita?"

"Don't you dare take me out of gymnastics." Santana dead-panned, face completely stoic. "My teacher says I'm a natural and that I can catch up to the rest of the girls in my class in no time!" The little girl waved her hand at her aunt, motioning for her to get out of the way. As Callie moved, Santana started cartwheeling her way into the living room.


End file.
